Irma Weij | Matthew Shave | ‘Body Unconscious’ | Karen Magazine

Matthew Shave’s editorial of Irma Weij called ‘Body Unconscious’ for Karen Magazine is perfectly titled to share new research from the University of California, Berkeley that reveals professional ballet and modern dancers are not as emotionally in sync with their bodies as are people who regularly practice meditation.

In research that comes perfectly timed for the size 0 body debate and the pursuit of ‘Black Swan’ bodies as the ideal beauty body in women, researchers found that ballet dancers who devote enormous focus and self discipline developing precise control over their bodies lack the mind-body connection in most other people.

The study published in the journal ‘Emotion’ December 2010 found that veteran practitioners of Vipassana or mindfulness meditation — a technique focused on observing thoughts, feelings, breathing and heartbeat, without judgment — showed the closest mind-body connection.

Participants were wired up with electrodes to monitor their physiological responses to emotionally charged scenes in movies and then used a rating dial to report their state of mind.

The ballet and modern dancers reported similar responses to the rest of participants to the visual inputs on the dial, but their bodies didn’t jibe. There was no visceral reaction of increased heart beat. Their body responses were similar to the control group. via Science Daily